Tommy Newsom - Live from Beautiful Downtown Burbank (1978)

"Chimes Festival" by Tommy Newsom

Whenever Doc Severinsen took over for Ed McMahon as announcer or took a break of his own, first chair saxophonist Tommy Newsom led the Tonight Show Band. Like many veterans of touring Big Bands, Newsom found himself working for one of the last bastions of those sizable orchestras when he joined the Tonight Show band in 1962 just before Carson took over. He arranged for the band and garnered a reputation for his dry wit when ad-libbing with Johnny. He released his debut album Live from Beautiful Downtown Burbank in 1978 for Direct-Disk Labs, a label that cut live performances straight to lacquer.

The album showcases Tommy Newsom, the arranger. Performed by a (sort of) Big Band orchestra, the music is not jazz and not orchestral but somehow both. The highlight of the album is the opener "Chimes Festival," a piece written by Newsom and inspired by the NBC jingle. The composition starts with a brassy blast of the familiar chimes and gradually weaves its way through a string of primetime genres, from adventure to game show, all composed and delivered with pomp and bombast. The final touch comes from Doc Severinsen's featured trumpet, and he elevates the piece for his good friend delivering the album's best solos. The rest of the songs on the album are arranged in the same style: brass heavy and winding and pleasant; a familiar jumble of musical influences and genres that only seems to have a place in the repertoire of a 70s television orchestra.

Here is the discography surrounding Tommy Newsom's debut album:

"Happy Go Lucky Local" by The Tonight Show Band

Johnny Carson Digs at Tommy Newsom

Johnny Carson and Tommy Newsom Banter

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Doc Severinsen and His Orchestra - Tempestuous Trumpet (1961)

"After You've Gone" by Doc Severinsen and His Orchestra

Johnny Carson preferred to pepper his routines with unscripted dialogue between himself and anybody on the Tonight Show payroll. After two years leading the Tonight Show Band, Milton Delugg proved not to be the best foil for Carson and, in 1968, trumpeter Doc Severinsen took over as bandleader. Severinsen was a wunderkind trumpet player and was touring with Big Bands before graduating high school. He'd continue to do so after serving in World War II before landing a job with NBC where he was a member of the Tonight Show Orchestra under Skitch Henderson during Steve Allen's run. Skitch brought Severinsen back for Carson's tenure as first chair trumpet until his eventual ascension to bandleader and "second sidekick." Between Tonight Show eras, Doc Severinsen and His Orchestra recorded their debut album Tempestuous Trumpet in 1961 for Command Records.

Rather than stormy and chaotic as the album title might suggest, Doc Severinsen plays his trumpet sunny, bright and crisp. My first thought was that Doc is as precise and virtuosic on his instrument as Bobby Byrne is on the trombone, and it turns out that Byrne actually plays on the record and arranged for it. Byrne's arrangements enjoy similar fair weather and are executed to perfection by a rehearsed, brass-heavy orchestra. The occasional touch of bongos brings further levity; the flutes do, too, but date the recordings a bit. The orchestra plays similarly to how the outstanding album cover art by S. Neil Fujita suggests: designed, organized and edited. Beautiful jazz, to be sure, but not tempestuous at all.

Here is the discography surrounding Doc Severinsen's debut album:

"I've Gotta Be Me" by The Tonight Show Band

Doc Severinsen with "All Star" Trumpet Quartet on Steve Allen's Tonight

Doc Severinsen Talks Thanksgiving with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show

"Stardust" by Doc Severinsen and His Orchestra

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Milton Delugg and The All-Stars - Add-A-Part Jazz (1956)

"I'm in the Mood for Love" by Milton Delugg and The All-Stars

José Melis left the Tonight Show band when Jack Paar left, so Johnny Carson started his tenure with the returning Skitch Henderson as bandleader. But Henderson had greater aspirations than just working in television and left Tonight after four years with Carson. Arranger, composer, bandleader, producer and accordion player, Milton Delugg got the call to take over the job. Delugg had a long-running relationship with NBC that started in 1950 where he conducted for the pioneering late night program Broadway Open House. Before that, he was a ready session musician and had no shortage of work as the "only" jazz accordionist in Los Angeles. He wrote prolifically and recorded occasionally releasing a debut album Add-A-Part Jazz with The All-Stars in 1961 on Columbia Records.

Milton Delugg gives the album most of its listenability just for the rarity of the accordion in jazz. He shows off the instrument's flexibility by shifting between laying down a melodic line overtop the rhythm section or adding volume to the horns. He uses the accordion's nimble dynamic shifts to give a little subtlety to the brass and even uses its breath for the occasional sustained drone (though not nearly often enough.) The other standout instrument is the piano (played by either Hank Jones or Bernie Leighton) which hits such soft and minimal solos that are beautiful in their spareness...except that they're not actually piano solos if you buy into the album's novelty...because this is a jazz album to which the listener can play along.

So during those otherwise daringly quiet moments where it's just the rhythm section, that's actually when the listener gets to solo. Just imagine the instruments that could be given a jazz turn: sousaphone, jewish harp, mellotron, talk box, ocarina, tubular bells, otamotone, etc. The violin is a good choice if you want to sound even more like you're playing inside a French cafe or perhaps the recorder for the aspiring, jazz-curious student. And to play with such All-Stars who, even without the add-a-part, take simplified material and rudimentary arrangements and make them worth the spin.

Here is the discography surrounding Milton Delugg's debut album:

Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top) (1946 single with The Swing Wing and Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach)

Hoop-De-Doo Polka (1950 single)

Love, Mystery and Adventure (1951 single with His Orchestra)

Shake Hands with Santa Claus (1951 single with His Orchestra)

The Wang Wang Blues (1951 single with His Orchestra)

Add-A-Part Jazz

Milton Delugg with Matty Malneck and His Orchestra

"One O'Clock Jump" by Milton Delugg and The All-Stars

"Pickle in the Middle (And the Mustard on Top)" by Artie "Mr. Kitzel" Auerbach with Milton Delugg and The Swing Wing

"Love, Mystery and Adventure" by Milton Delugg and His Orchestra

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Ed McMahon - And Me...I'm Ed McMahon (1967)

"Beautiful Girl" by Ed McMahon

After building a comic rapport over five years on the show Who Do You Trust?, it was only natural for Johnny Carson to bring along his friend Ed McMahon to be The Tonight Show's announcer and Johnny's sidekick. McMahon always worked through his big, baritone voice. As a teenager, he started as a carnival barker, bingo caller and pitch man, then switched, after war service and college, to radio and, finally, television where he made for a natural announcer. So, it was probably inevitable that Ed McMahon release an album: And Me...I'm Ed McMahon in 1967 on Cameo Parkway Records.

Although some of the internet lists this album as a 1963 release, the fact that two songs sung by McMahon weren't published until 1966 means 1967 is the actual release date. Rather than the songwriting data, it's the jarring mix of a distorted guitar with big band and dixieland touches on the opening track "Claudia" that really screams late Sixties Pop. The production calms down the genre fusion after this but only to scatter the genres throughout the rest of the record. Whether led by strings, brass or guitar, Ed McMahon still can't find a note. He slides in and out of them, and for having such a rich speaking voice, delivers his lines weakly. At least by the end of the album, McMahon does make some interesting—though not necessarily good—decisions, starting with the storybook epic "Beautiful Girl" and ending with genres he finally shows some affinity for: country ("Loving Heart") and western ("They Call the Wind Maria.") It's not much of a reward for making it to the end of the record, however.

Here is the discography surrounding Ed McMahon's debut album:

And Me...I'm Ed McMahon

Beautiful Girl (1967 single)

"They Call the Wind Maria" by Ed McMahon

"Claudia" by Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon Argues with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show

Ed McMahon Budweiser Commercial

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Johnny Carson - Johnny Carson's Introduction to New York and the World's Fair (1964)

After six months finishing out his contract with ABC as host of the daytime game show Who Do You Trust?, Johnny Carson started his historic tenure as the host of The Tonight Show on October 1, 1962. Like the hosts before him, Carson built his career through variety shows and hosting gigs on radio and early television. Despite being a prestige television job, not many comedians wanted the workload The Tonight Show required, even Carson (but he "relented.") Already a rising star, Carson ascended even higher to become one of television's and New York's most familiar faces. As a major star in New York, Carson was a natural choice to help promote the 1964 New York World's Fair. Thus, his debut album was Johnny Carson's Introduction to New York and the World's Fair which released in 1964 on Columbia Records.

Part curio and entirely promotional, Johnny Carson weaves together travel tips, comedy bits and an aural tour of popular exhibits for the upcoming World's Fair in New York. The album sounds like a piece of reportage where Carson escorts the listener through New York and then through the Fair making wisecracks during encounters with denizens and funny scenarios one might run into as a tourist. On television, Carson has a knack for making the most scripted and rote material seem off-the-cuff and fresh. He has less success without an audience or a camera to perform to. Carson still maintains his conversational charisma but is too scripted to allow for one of his greatest strengths: making a bad joke go down a little easier. Unfortunately, the album is full of the expected bad jokes that Carson can't do much about or with (about cabbies and panhandlers, parking and traffic, restaurants and tipping) and that's before the minefield of standard racist and misogynistic jokes that comes with a 60's tour of the "world." It's a fascinating album all the same as a capsule of an event and a transformed New York even if the jokes are so common that they would have sounded just as tired promoting the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Note: This album has not yet made its way online.

Here is the discography surrounding Johnny Carson's debut album:

Johnny Carson's Introduction to New York and the World's Fair

The Johnny Carson Show (Sep. 1, 1955)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Jan. 14, 1964)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Dec. 31, 1965)

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Merv Griffin - Songs by Merv Griffin (1946)

"Lullaby of the Leaves" by Merv Griffin

By his own account, Jack Paar left Tonight too soon, but the workload of a nightly 105 minutes of screen time was a strain to fill. Even after rerunning "Best-of" material and employing guest hosts to lighten the stress, Paar would make March 30, 1962 his last episode as the host of Tonight. In his five years as host, Paar had made the late night show an institution and set its format for all the hosts who would come after him. When Paar left, NBC had no thought, like there was with Steve Allen's departure, to try something different. Their only thought was to find somebody who could fill Jack Paar's shoes and maintain the show as "must watch" television. In fact, NBC already had the next host signed, but an inflexible ABC wouldn't let him out of his previous contract. So, a series of guest hosts filled the months on the freshly christened The Tonight Show until the new host could be introduced. Famous and familiar faces took turns behind the desk but none was as natural in the chair as Merv Griffin.

NBC executives were so impressed that they gave Merv Griffin his own hour block show to preempt The Tonight Show and keep him around in case Tonight's new host didn't make the grade. Going back in time, Merv Griffin had already been a familiar face with NBC as a game show host, starred in films for Warner Bros., played nightclubs, and started his career as a radio singer at the age of 19. While at KFRC in San Francisco, Merv Griffin saved his money to record a couple singles and the compiling debut album Songs of Merv Griffin released in 1946 on his own, one-off Panda Records.

Despite being a personally funded effort, the "album"—really, it's just four songs—has a professional veneer thanks to his connections at KFRC. Station band leader Lyle Bardo provides his full orchestral support to Merv Griffin's croon. Together, the songs have a cinema quality and a cinematic quality. It's a dreamy sound popular in Hollywood musicals of the 30s and 40s, and Bardo's arrangements paint the scenes of the art songs: a windy day with scattered leaves, waves on the beach. Rather than an artistic statement though, the album is more a calling card for Griffin. He's young, ambitious, an entrepreneur and a professional...who also sings quite well.

Here is the discography surrounding Merv Griffin's debut album:

Lullaby of the Leaves (1946 single)

Sand (1946 single)

Songs by Merv Griffin

"Falling in Love with Love" by Merv Griffin

"Sand" by Merv Griffin

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Regis Philbin - It's Time for Regis! (1968)

"Pennies from Heaven" by Regis Philbin

Concerning these many tour stops covering The Tonight Show (if you hadn't caught on yet,) Regis Philbin is the first to have no background in radio. His first job was in television—circa 1955—as a page for...Tonight and NBC. Regis went on to work as a local news anchor in San Diego for KOGO-TV, where in 1961 he got his first opportunity to host a talk show that was a nationally syndicated, short-lived and poorly reviewed replacement to The Steve Allen Show. After that was when Regis returned to Tonight to fill in as announcer for Hugh Downs. (Much later, he would take over for Hugh Downs again: this time in the Guinness Book of World Records for most time spent on air on network television.) Regis finally broke out becoming a household name in 1967 as the sidekick to Joey Bishop on The Joey Bishop Show. It was on one of these episodes when Regis was gifted the opportunity to sing "Pennies from Heaven" to his idol Bing Crosby. The next day after this impromptu, live television performance, he signed a record deal with Mercury Records leading to his 1968 debut album It's Time for Regis!

Regis sings what he knows and what he knows are songs from the Bing Crosby songbook. Despite the influence of his idol, Regis does not have a crooner's voice. It's higher pitched and better suited for faster tempos. His television experience and sense for the live audience make him less a Crosby impersonator, whose style was honed through the intimacy of radio and film, and more the inheritor of the vaudevillian tradition and performers like Al Jolson (especially audible on Southern-set songs like "Swanee" and "Mame" or Jolson classics like "Toot, Toot, Tootsie!") Throughout the whole album, Regis competes with the album's production. It's not that the production and Regis's voice are at odds (though their wills were,) but that the production is always in danger of outshining him. Helmed by Wrecking Crew veteran Steve Douglas, the album's sound runs on bass and brass and is bulwarked by a choral group; mixing nostalgic musical styles with a popular, buoyant maximalism. (Sometimes these qualities are juxtaposed in jarring ways as when, on "Swanee," a Motown intro suddenly gives way to minstrelsy banjos.) Douglas orchestrates to take the load of musical entertainment that Mercury and Douglas didn't trust Regis to deliver probably because he was untrained and inexperienced or because he wanted to be a crooner singing old popular songs in a time when they were no longer popular in a fashion that wasn't either. Regis actually performs well despite his limitations but he ends up on a record that floats toward the timeless past while being mercilessly pinned to the more dated sounds of 1968.

Nobody bought the record and nobody seemed to like it, including Regis. The negative reaction scared Regis from trying again (at least not for another thirty years,) and he stowed away the album as an embarrassment. But he treasured the experience, that made for a great story and a childhood dream fulfilled then put away.

Here is the discography surrounding Regis Philbin's debut album:

It's Time for Regis!

"Swanee" by Regis Philbin

Regis Philbin Singing to Bing Crosby on The Joey Bishop Show

Regis Philbin on Late Night with David Letterman

Pass the Headphones!!